Watch this video if you're curious to know exactly how I feel about the AIG bonuses. Yes, they're obscene. And I hope Geithner, Summers and Bernanke get canned by Obama. But the real issues are much, much larger - the bailout and Congress' total negligience with regard to monetary policy.
TIm White
The Stamford Advocate's Brian Lockhart reports on a legislative moratorium on artificial turf:
Rep. Kim Fawcett, D-Fairfield, rushed around the capitol Wednesday urging colleagues on the environment committee to support her bill placing a temporary moratorium on construction of state-funded artificial turf athletic fields.
The committee passed the legislation, in a 21-to-11 vote.
Fawcett afterward acknowledged the proposal, which now heads to the public health committee, is a mostly symbolic statement of lawmakers' concerns the crumbled tires that cushion the fields are harmful to human health and the environment.
Cheshire's newest state Representative, Elizabeth Esty, is a member of the Public Health Committee. It'll be interesting to see her vote in Hartford and compare it to her vote in Cheshire. (For the video of that July 2008 vote, see here, here and here.)
Of course, being a political body there's always the possibility that the turf moratorium bill is being sent to Public Health to "die in committee." I'm sure many of you have heard of such tactics in Washington, but the same happens in Hartford and in Cheshire.
Or were you unaware that such tactics are used in Cheshire?
Considering that I first suggested videostreaming in August 2007, and nothing happened for 19 months - until Sheldon Dill returned to the Council - I think it's fair to say that videostreaming was sent to the Ordinance Review Committee to die there. Unless the timing is just "a coincidence?" Ha!
Regardless... I thought some of you may find the Public Health Committee's agenda of interest.
Tim White
Yesterday I commented on Senator Dodd's apparent flip flop on the AIG bonuses. But at least his flip flop is starting to make sense - he was "taking one for the team" by covering for Administration officials. And while that makes him look like a member of the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress with his tale of "the Administration made me do it," there's still a question that needed to be answered:
Who in the Administration pressed for the AIG bonuses?
FoxNews' Trish Turner offers:
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., all but pointed the finger of blame directly at the "Obama economic team" Wednesday for allegedly stripping a provision from the stimulus package last month that would have slapped a heavy tax on bonuses like the ones doled out at AIG...
Asked to whom he spoke with back in February when he was fighting to keep the item, Wyden said, "Secretary Geithner, Larry Summers, and I'll leave it at that."
And so I come full circle from a few days ago... Obama needs to fire his economic team and stop the bailout-funded bonuses. Enough already.
Tim White
From Time Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential people of 2008:
PRO: With his antiwar, antitax platform, the Texan became an unexpected Internet phenom, using the Web to raise as much as $6 million a day. And now that we think about it, we probably should have taken his advice about gold.
CON: For all his fundraising acumen, the media never saw Paul as anything more than a fringe player.
I'm kinda wondering what they have to say about their own bearing on the "con." Regardless, I've been a fan for years. Too bad he's not the POTUS right now. He'd keep it simple by reading the Constitution and acting accordingly. For instance, there'd be no uproar over the AIG bonuses because there'd be no bailouts!
Tim White
Paragraph 23 (of 51) in George Washington's farewell address:
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
And here's the eleventh installment of state Sen. Sam Caligiuri's bills that he introduced / cosponsored this year:
SB00465 AN ACT AUTHORIZING BONDS OF THE STATE FOR THE INSTALLATION OF SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE AT NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS.
SB00466 AN ACT CONCERNING THE STATE-WIDE PUBLIC SCHOOL INFORMATION SYSTEM.
SB00467 AN ACT CONCERNING THE WAIVER OF CERTAIN TEACHER CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.
SB00469 AN ACT CONCERNING INTERNET SAFETY INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS.
SB00470 AN ACT CONCERNING THE SHARING OF INFORMATION BETWEEN POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND SUPERINTENDENTS.
Tim White
Tonight the Council voted against waiving the school bus contract bid. Here's the MRJs Jesse Buchanan:
The Town Council failed to approve a transportation contract bid waiver Wednesday in 4 to 3 vote. Republican councilors Tom Ruocco, Tim Slocum, Tim White and Democratic councilor Sheldon Dill voted against the bid waiver while Democratic councilors Matt Altieri, Michael Ecke and Matt Hall voted for it...
During the meeting, Dill asked Florio if it was possible that the town could save money by going out to bid. Florio responded yes.
And for some additional insight on my vote, the following is some of the information I requested from the CT Conference of Municipalities. This spreadsheet details some incomplete data about contractual increases in existing contracts. (The Type 2 and Type 3 buses are special ed buses):
And this information is related to responses from school districts that actually went out to bid in the past six months or so:
Unfortunately, only Portland gave the data I wanted to see. But hey... these responses were on a volunteer basis... so any information is better than no information. Finally, I got this data around 1pm today. Then later in the day I called CCM and they had gotten one last piece of data - Manchester recently went out to bid on a school transportation contract and accepted a two year proposal with 3% increases in each of the two years.
Based on the data previously provided by the Superintendent and the above data, I felt the information indicated both higher costs and lower costs... and ultimately the best thing to do was to bid the contract.
I really do appreciate Matt Hall's comments though about the value of existing service and putting one's kids on the bus in the morning.
Tim White
Hat tip to Ironman for catching this CNN clip that showcases Senator Dodd's apparent flip flop:Ironman also suggests that Geithner was caught in a lie about the AIG bonuses via this Time Magazine link. Having read the beginning of the article it seems to indicate that Geithner's not lying about the AIG bonuses... he's just in over his head.
Regardless, Geithner probably belongs in jail for tax evasion. So we already know he's a liar who needs to fired by President Obama.
Tim White
Paragraph 22 (of 51) in George Washington's farewell address:
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
And here's the tenth installment of state Sen. Sam Caligiuri's bills that he introduced / cosponsored this year:
SB00382 AN ACT CONCERNING THE BOUNDARY LINE BETWEEN THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN AND THE CITY OF WATERBURY.
SB00395 AN ACT DELAYING MUNICIPAL REVALUATION.
SB00422 AN ACT CONCERNING THE REGULATION OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MATCHES.
SB00423 AN ACT CONCERNING NOTIFYING NEIGHBORING RESIDENTS OF BURGLARIES AND HOME INVASIONS.
SB00463 AN ACT LIMITING THE USE OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL SUSPENSIONS.
Tim White
Some comments on last night's budget meeting...
Twice I broached the topic of reducing the budget by an additional 10%. I figured the state is talking about reducing municipal funding by 10-15%, we need to at least discuss further significant budget cuts.
I also asked about the responsibilities of the Assistant Town Manager. IMO, that's an unnecessary role and may be overly burdensome on staff (see here for a previous description of my concern). And there's a stipend (approx. $4,000 / yr) associated with the title that could be cut without any change in services. I've been trying to eliminate it for years, but haven't had five votes. Thankfully, the Council may now have five votes to address some long ignored issues. We'll see.
One resident asked about reductions in teaching staff. He explained that if a school has a strings teacher and a brass teacher in the music program... he felt they should not be considered classroom teachers. And if such positions went unfilled next year, they shouldn't be discussed in terms of classroom size. On the same topic, I asked if learning initiative teachers were considered classroom teachers. (IMO, "LITs" are not classroom teachers. And those positions need not be filled.)
Jimmy Sima asked about the need to maintain current staffing levels in the Building Dept and Planning Dept. He reasoned that there was little work in either department. So if there are retirements in Town Hall... perhaps some of that workload could be shifted?
Overtime was discussed. I expect there will be cuts to the overtime budgets.
Tim White
And here's the ninth installment of state Sen. Sam Caligiuri's bills that he introduced / cosponsored this year:
SB00362 AN ACT CONCERNING EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK.
SB00366 AN ACT CONCERNING A TAX CREDIT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES THAT PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE FOR EMPLOYEES.
SB00373 AN ACT CONCERNING STORAGE OF PERSONAL ITEMS OF EVICTED TENANTS.
SB00375 AN ACT AUTHORIZING BONDS OF THE STATE FOR LOANS TO MUNICIPALITIES FOR EMPLOYEE PENSION FUNDS.
SB00378 AN ACT CONCERNING APPROVAL OF STATE MANDATES .
Tim White
Paragraph 21 (of 51) in George Washington's farewell address:
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
WFSB has a piece on Cheshire's retirement offer.
Before we go further down this road though, I'm concerned about how this offer will work.
I think it would be wrong to "save" money today (via lower staff salary costs) and to put all those "savings" into the general fund.
Why?
Because the employees would immediately begin drawing on the pension fund. So it'd be as if we reduced today's spending in the operating budget... but increased the spending in the pension fund. And that would simply mean we're delaying taxes.
I'm fine with the retirement incentive, but if we move forward with it... we should be depositing an appropriate portion of the "savings" into the pension fund.
Besides, there's already a $20,000,000 deficit in the pension fund. Do we really want to further reduce assets, while increasing liabilities? If I were an employee, I wouldn't be happy about that at all.
Tim White
While the quant jocks as AIG are complaining about not receiving their $165 million bonus, AIG continues with layoffs.
People belong in jail.
I suggest starting with Geithner. If not for any criminal wrongdoing in relation to him bailing out his Wall Street cronies, then for the tax evasion.
I'm starting to think President Obama is in over his head. I mean, why did he appoint Geithner even after we all knew Geithner was a self-serving crook? I thought Obama ran on "judgment."
Tim White
For the past year or two I've been trying to explain that - until there was a change in "Council composition" - many good ideas would continue to fail due to institutional opposition and the heavy Rubber Stamp.
Thankfully though... the Council composition has changed!
Thanks to the leadership of Councilman Sheldon Dill, you no longer need to visit TWL. You can go directly to the the Town website.
Now that is change I can believe in!
Tim White
p.s. No word yet on whether he faced charges of micromanaging.
For regulars here, you know that for several months now, I've repeatedly tried to demonstrate that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is opposed to transparency. He's a typical Washington politician... he thinks he's smarter than you and me. For examples of his opposition to transparency, see here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Anyway... I now understand why Geithner and The Insiders have been so vehemently opposed to transparency.
Today, details of where the bailout money went began getting disclosed. AIG offered the first bit of info...
From Bloomberg's Hugh Son and Robert Schmidt:
Banks got $22.4 billion in collateral, $27.1 billion in payments from a U.S. entity to retire credit-default swaps and $43.7 billion tied to the securities-lending program, AIG said in a statement. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led beneficiaries, with $12.9 billion...
Henry Paulson, former CEO of New York-based Goldman Sachs, made the decision to save AIG while he was Treasury Secretary.
What is happening? Does anyone in Washington have any sense of reality?
Tim White
The Council met tonight. We discussed the budgets of the BOE, the Council, the TMs office, the Town Attorney, the Planning Dept, the Building Dept and Economic Development.
I'll discuss this at greater length tomorrow. But there was some interesting discussion tonight.
Tim White
Yesterday I posted a reminder on the abomination that was written by Senator Chris Dodd last fall - the 450 page bailout bill that began with Bush. But the post addressed several concerns, including this thought:
I say Obama should add Summers to the list of people who need to be fired. Obama can give Larry his pink slip just as soon as he signs walking papers for Bernanke and Geithner.
And today I continued thinking more and more about the post and got increasingly angry with what's happening. From my perspective, firing Larry "We are a country of law" Summers and his two cronies isn't enough. I want them gone today and I want an apology from President Obama for Mr. Summers' highly misleading statements. This stuff has got to stop. And while I actually kinda liked him, my affinity for President Obama has worn quite thin. I'm sick and tired of these bailouts for the rich and powerful. And Obama is the only who can stop it. But maybe he's learning?
This morning the NYTimes reported that Obama was bracing for a populist backlash against these AIG bonuses. And by tonight Obama was directing Geithner to try to stop the bonuses.
But ya know something... I don't want Mr. Geithner to try to stop the bonuses. He must stop the bonuses. And if he doesn't, I'm done with Obama. I'll have had enough of him. And FWIW... others are quickly losing patience with him. When it comes to these obscene bonuses and all the bailouts too... you can consider me in bed with the SEIU this Thursday:
The SEIU is right. Enough is enough.
Mr. Obama needs to man up and quit the nonsense about "We are a country of law." No Mr. Obama! The law was rewritten last year. And you wrongly voted for the bailout* and did nothing to fight the other various bailouts.
The fact is that AIG would be bankrupt today if these endless bailouts hadn't happened. So I request that you stop the bonuses, then fire your entire economic team (starting with Bernanke, Geithner and Summers), then start to learn about monetary policy before you continue down this path of destroying the dollar, inflating the currency and hurting those most in need through The Fed's inflationary policies.
Tim White
* But that's nothing new... he opposed the US Constitution last year when he voted in favor of a bill of attainder.
Paragraph 20 (of 51) in George Washington's farewell address:
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.
